Mongrel wrote:Newt Gingrich of all people displaying a surprising amount of compassion and understanding for BLM.

I hate to praise Trump -- like, really hate it, gag-reflex-kicking-in hate it --, but he honestly nailed this one too. Somebody wrote him a good script, and he stayed on-script for a change.

The irony of Donald goddamn Trump lamenting the racial barriers in our national discourse is so thick you can cut it with an insipid cliche, obviously. But he did a good enough job this time that I'm willing to praise him for what he did right, and save condemning what he did wrong for all the other things he will inevitably do wrong within the next 12 hours or so.

One thing that I would like to add: While reportedly it went "put your hands up bang bang bang bang" when Philando Castile got killed which is likely the racism and whatever else may have caused the cop to be so jumpy and panicked in the video, "I have a firearm and I'm reaching for my wallet" (which is what his girlfriend said he'd said in the video, I don't know what he actually said) while you're reaching for your pocket is just about the worst way to handle informing a police officer that you're legally armed. I've looked into recommendations for how to handle it and rehearsed what I would do and say if I ever get pulled over while concealed carrying, and the advice is either "don't say anything and hand them your concealed carry permit along with your driver's license"* or "don't reach for anything, keep hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel and inform officer that you're carrying along with where the pistol is, ask them how they would like to proceed."

Brentai wrote:Yes, well, realizing you could actually be shot for being such a douchebag tends to soften blowhards up a bit.

I think you're giving him entirely too much credit for introspection and self-awareness. I think this is the result of watching his poll numbers tank after the stupid shit he said following the last mass shooting.

Brentai wrote:Like the last time a bunch of cops got murdered over racial tensions, I have to come to a depressing conclusion: That this is actually incredibly effective.

Effective at what? Politicians (many of whom do not actually currently hold office) are saying reasonable things for a few days, and then we're looking at a return to the status quo: more violent police confrontations, more disproportionate and unnecessary killing of black citizens, and now we've got a fucking precedent for police resolving a standoff by sending in a bomb.

I guess, from the shooter's point of view, that's effective -- in that it brings us one step closer to the kind of all-out war between police and civilians that he wanted.

I'm sort of reminded of how a little while ago some guys I know were doing a thing with bad 80's rah rah jingo movies, hilarious stuff like Delta Force 3, etc.

What was remarkable was how a lot of the villains in those movies were the worst, most cartoonishly evil characters that the most garishly right-wing bent writers of that era could come up with. And yet they pale in comparison to what's going on today.

A 12-year-old boy gets shot by police within seconds of them roaring up next to him in their car. They then spend four minutes restraining his panicked sister and watching him die, all the while thinking "so that's what happens when you shoot a child..."

Hardly Ideal wrote:A 12-year-old boy gets shot by police within seconds of them roaring up next to him in their car. They then spend four minutes restraining his panicked sister and watching him die, all the while thinking "so that's what happens when you shoot a child..."

Now, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to lock the doors to this forum, and I'm not going to let anybody out until I get a goddamned explanation.

To be fair, in New York State threatening someone with a gun is, by the books, misdemeanor menacing. Which I looked up last night because someone threatened a friend of mine's brother with a gun because he was loitering around playing Poke Mongo.

A 17-year-old boy is facing charges after he allegedly wrote on a blog that he was preparing to attack Oakwood Collegiate Institute on the 27th anniversary of the massacre at École Polytechnique de Montréal.

I had to look up the Montreal Massacre on Wikipedia. I'm a little shocked but not surprised that they seem to have included a boilerplate mass shooting sidebar, complete with a spot for motives like "anti-feminism and misogyny."

It's 9:40am and I already need a barf bag.

: Mention something from KPCC or Rachel Maddow: Go on about Homeworld for X posts

A 17-year-old boy is facing charges after he allegedly wrote on a blog that he was preparing to attack Oakwood Collegiate Institute on the 27th anniversary of the massacre at École Polytechnique de Montréal.

tell me again how toxic masculinity doesn't exist

It's pretty lucky that was averted.

The article itself says he made no specific threats against women though? Or anybody in particular for that matter.

I mean, it's very possible that that sort of resentment IS a part of this. Polytechnique was BOTH a school massacre and a misogynist massacre, and we don't know if the kid meant to celebrate just one or both of those elements. It's also possible he was bullied or just generally unable to cope with life in some other way.

The thing is that Polytechnique is going to be held up as *the* example to follow by Canadian school attackers no matter if they have gender-related issues or not, because the number of people killed in the Polytechnique Massacre still dwarfs any other school attack in Canadian history (15 people... next closest are a couple with 4). If Canada had had a lot of other large-scale school massacres to emulate, then I'd be more comfortable saying that the choice of the Polytechnique anniversary specifically probably meant there was a misogynist component, but as it is I think we'd be better served waiting for more information.

All that being said, uh, I don't think anyone on the Brontoboards has been saying toxic masculinity or at least some variation on the concept doesn't exist? I mean I certainly agree that's a real thing. I just don't know that that's what happened here, on this particular occasion.

I'm sure there'll be more news stories after the cops search his computers and such, which will probably answer the question of motive at least.

Mongrel wrote:All that being said, uh, I don't think anyone on the Brontoboards has been saying toxic masculinity or at least some variation on the concept doesn't exist? I mean I certainly agree that's a real thing. I just don't know that that's what happened here, on this particular occasion.

I feel like I shouldn't need to explain this but... that was a rhetorical statement, and not directed at anyone on the boards.